Cardboard and like cartons



March 17, 1964 J, R. wA'rTs ETAL cARnBoARD AND LIKE cARToNs 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed March 14, 1962 IWI March 17, 1964 J. R. wATTs ETAL CARDBOARD AND LIKE cARToNs Filed March 14, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Y FIGB.

3,125,279 CABUARD ANB LIKE CARTNS John Robert Watts, Hornchurch, and Philip Wagrnan and John Robert Freshwater, London, England, assignors to IVI. Petrushkin Limited, London, England Filed Mar. 14, 1962, Ser. No. 179,592 Claims priority, application Great Britain Mar. l5, 1961 3 Claims. (Cl. 229-40) This invention concerns improvements relating to cardboard and l-ike cartons and has rior an object to provide a construction advantageous, when charged with an article orV articles, to make la substantially ilat package convenient for handling and transport without likelihood of the goods unintentionally slipping out of the canton.

According to the present invention, a cardboard or like car-ton is :a ilat object comprising front and back, and a closure flap at one or more of the sides of the car-ton, the ilap or each ilap having a locking tongue such as can be pressed by the linger to engage in a slit or slot or a recess in or on the body of the carton beneath such ilap and prevent unintentional opening of the tlap when engaged after usual manner in a slit or slot of the body.

As made, the body of the carton suitably is of single fold construction between tron-t land back, and prefenably is grooved or scored .at a short spacing from its edges to allow boxing at such edges to facilitate reception of an :article -or articles in the carton. In the latte-r case, a permanent closure ot the carton at an edge opposite the ap edge, by means of a `fold-over pontion, suitably has this portion cut away at the ends substantially as fiar as the grooving or scoring at opposite sides of the back, so 'as to avoid loose projecting parts of the told-over portion at the ends of this portion, when the edge parts ot the carton are boxed or expanded to enab-le the carton to receive a relativelythick article or a plurality of thinner articles.

In order to enable the invention to be readily understood, reference is directed by way of example t-o lthe accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE l is an elevation of a blank -from which to prepare a carton according Ito this invention,

FIGURE 2 .an elevation of theV completed and closed and locked carto-n,

FIGURE 3 a fragmentary section on the line III-III of FIGURE 2, and

FIGURE 4 a perspective View ott the car-ton substantially as it appears in use with its edge parts boxed or expanded Ias aforesaid.

The embodiment of the invention illustrated by way of example in the drawings is a carton of rectangular form made from a blank which, as shown FIGURE l, comprises two rectangular main portions vl, 2, the latter one slightly narrower than the other. These portions are hinged together by a single fold 3 Iand at the edge of the wider portion 1, opposite to such told, is a narrow striplike portion 4 likewise hinged by a single fold 5. The por-tion 1 dorms the iront of the canton which, in general, is somewhat like ya known form of correspondence envelope. The other two portions 2, `4 combine to form the back of the carton, as will be apparent from FIGURE 2. As shown, the portion 4 is iirst folded over against the inner surface of the iront and the portion 2 folded over so as to overl-ap the former on the outside, the two being stuck together by `adhesive over the region indicated by 6. At the top ot the iront pant of the canton is a rfoldeover liep 7 which, latter usual manner, is tongued, as at 8, to enter la transverse, and slightly sloping, slit or slot 9 in the back, for closure of the carton.

The back and front of the body of Ithe carton are `grooved or sco-red, as at 10, along and at a short distance [from all their edges (if desired except the lower edge ot United States Patent O ice the back as shown), to allow the edge boxing ot the carton aforesaid. The closure flap 7 also is grooved or scored, as at 11, along and at a `sho-rt distance Ifrom its root pant which is hinged at y12 to the stront. At the bottom of the front, the blank thas a relatively narrow fold- Iover part '13 grooved or scored, as at V1li, similarly to the iront and back of the carton. This narrow part is chamfered oil inwardly, 'as at 15, at about 45 trom the ends 4of its yfold 16 to its groove or score 14 and from the outer end of the chamfer is straightened oli, as at 17, and then rounded oil at its outer corners, .to give it a llat tongued-ike :form I8.

When the trout and back parts have been folded over relatively to one vanother from the blank at the Vfolds 3 and 5 `and secured by adhesive as aforesaid, the bottom ilap `i3 is tEolded over at lo on to .the back and also secured by adhesive, thereby completing the formation of the body of the carton.

In order, substantially, to avoid treble thickness of the back when the back pants Z, 4 and the bottom ap 13 are thus folded over and secured, the narrow told-over pant 4 orf the body may be rectangularly cut away at the bottom, as at 19, beneath the adjacent end of such ap and the part of the back over which that end is folded. In FIGURE 2, the ilap 13 is broken away partly to show the situation lof 19 in Ithe completed carton.

The groot/ing or scoring at 1li and `1li. allows of the boxing orf the edges or the carton, hereinbetore mentio-ned, substantially after the manner shown at the top and righthand sides of FIGURE 4 and, as will be seen, the bottom illap 13 will [present no loose parts laterally projecting beyond yl5 and li7, in lspite of the boxing between the vertical grooves or scores lil adjacent the vertical side edges of the carton. The closure of the carton, after packing, is eiiected by engaging the ilap 7 by its tongue 8 in its slit or slot 9 in the back of .the carton as shown in FIGURE 2 (cf. also FIGURE 4).

IIn order to prevent the .closure iiap 7 from being unintentionally opened, this ap is slit or slotted approximately semiacircularly near its root and centrally of its width .as shown lat 26. This forms a tab-like locking tongue 2d within it which, when the flap `is folded down normally to close it, .projects upwardly of the carton in the plane or the llap :as will be understood from IFlGURE l. Beneath this tongue 2l and adjacent to the root thereof (which extends between the ends of the semi-circular slit or slot 2d), the back pant Z et the carton is formed with .a slit or :slot 22 extending transversely to receive such tongue. This transverse slit or slot 22 is slightly longer than the root of the 'tongue 2l and curved oi a little at the ends as shown in FIGURES yl and 2. Thus, with the closure `flap 7 closed, if the ioretinger of the hand is applied to the tongue 21, the latter can .be entered through the slit or slot 22, finishing up still directed upwardly oi the carton, cf. FIGURE 3. It is thought that the small arrows adjacent 21 and 22 in FIGURES 1, 2 and 4 will indicate the operation. In this way, eiective provision is made for the closure iiap 7, 8` to be retained closed against unintentional opening though at the same time .allowing the carton to be readily opened by hand.

The slit or slot 9 may optionally have slightly inclined receding parts 9a at the ends to facilitate entry of the tongue 8 of the closure ap 7 into it when closing the canton.

Additionally, the pant of the back portion 2 ot the carton forming a tongue 23 may have a scoring 24 at its root to enable it -to bend easily and facilitate entry of the locking tongue into and through the slit or slot 22 after the carton is closed.

It will be understood that the degree of the soacalled boxing of the edges of the carton will wary according to the nature ot the contents of the carton. Little or practically no such boxing may appear if only a thin object is placed in lthe carton. An advantage ot the carton, however, is lthat it may receive relatively thick or bulky objects 'and yet allow eicient :act-ion of the locking tongue 21, due to the provision rnade for the boxing of the edges onf the carton.

The canton of the invention is partioulanly intended dor the packing 4therein of literary matter such as pamphlets and books, of wads of palper sheets, of advertising matter, of sets of programmes, cards or tickets, of personal articles or presents such as handkerclniefs and scarves and o many other articles almost too numerous to mention completely.

It is to be noted, too, that `as the carton is of envelopelike tonm, it is easy or familiar, to close and open it.

Moreover, the filled carton can be subjected to a 'good deal of rough treatment e.g. in transmission by post, without the closure Hap becoming opened land :the contents lost or misplaced.

The carton may be made in various sizes according to circumstances and 4instead of being :made of cardboard (or the equivalent paperboard) rnay be made of any other suitable semi-stiff material.

Finally, the invention is not restricted ito the embodiment above particularly .described because rnodiiications are possible without departing from its scope. For example, the carton could be made with openable closure iiaps at opposite ends, either or each being associated with ia locking tongue as above described. The carton, moreover, need not be rectangular but may be ina-de in other suitable shapes for particular requirements.

We claim:

1. A cardboard or like carto-n in the form of a iiat envelope-like object having `a CE1-ont panel and a back pane-l, ya closure flap hinged along an edge of said front panel so as to be toldable iiatwise on to the outside of said back panel, said back panel having a tnansverse slit and said closure iiap bei-ng engage/able with said slit by inserting its free end the-reinto in one Idirection to close said cant-on, said back panel also having a second transverse slit located ytherein between the one rstarnentioned :and said edge, and a looking tongue formed in said closure ilap in a manner tto-r such tongue sto ente-r into said second tmansverse slit in `direction opposite to the direction in which the yfree end of said closure Etap is engaged with the slit first-mentioned to close said carton.

2 A carton according to claim l, wherein fthe said front yand back panels have single-ifold connection with each other and both have score lines on them equally spaced from and parallel to all the outer edges of the canton to allow boxing `at such edges, and la permanently olosed iold-oveir flap is extended over the outside of said back panel from that outer edge off the carton which is `opposite the one along which the closure flap is hinged, suoh permanently closed flap bearing one of .the score lines appertainin-g Ito said opposite outer edge, this flap being chainfered inwardly ysubstantially at yan angle of 45 lfrorn the ends of said opposite outer edge to said one score lline and then 'being extended substantially in coincidence with ,the two adjoining of said score lines on said back panel.

3, A carton according fto claim 2, wherein the back panel comprises overlapped part-s lying adjacent to and parallel to one of the Itwo adjoining score lines, the outer one of .said overlapped parts extending 4beneath the permanently closed ap and the other ott said overlapped pants-:being cutaway so as substantially to terminate short of said permanently closed ila-p.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,690,883 Ziegler Nov. 6, 1928 2,281,452 O-ttinger Apr. 28, 1942 2,675,165 Roshkind et al Apr. 13, 1954 3,004,699 Stires O'ct. 17, 1961 FOREIGN PATENTS 557,376 France May 2 1923 217,128 Great Britain July 12, 1924 

1. A CARDBOARD OR LIKE CARTON IN THE FORM OF A FLAT ENVELOPE-LIKE OBJECT HAVING A FRONT PANEL AND A BACK PANEL, A CLOSURE FLAP HINGED ALONG AN EDGE OF SAID FRONT PANEL SO AS TO BE FOLDABLE FLATWISE ON TO THE OUTSIDE OF SAID BACK PANEL, SAID BACK PANEL HAVING A TRANSVERSE SLIT AND SAID CLOSURE FLAP BEING ENGAGEABLE WITH SAID SLIT BY INSERTING ITS FREE END THEREINTO IN ONE DIRECTION TO CLOSE SAID CARTON, SAID BACK PANEL ALSO HAVING A SECOND TRANSVERSE SLIT LOCATED THEREIN BETWEEN THE ONE FIRST-MENTIONED AND SAID EDGE, AND A LOCKING TONGUE FORMED IN SAID CLOSURE FLAP IN A MANNER FOR SUCH TONGUE TO ENTER INTO SAID SECOND TRANSVERSE SLIT IN DIRECTION OPPOSITE TO THE DIRECTION IN WHICH THE FREE END OF SAID CLOSURE FLAP IS ENGAGED WITH THE SLIT FIRST-MENTIONED TO CLOSE SAID CARTON. 